Wednesday, September 25, 2013

A Just Crown

When King writes, “Any
law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human
personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation
distorts the soul and damages the personality,” he illustrates the traveling of
law (Letter From Birmingham Jail). Law
has the power to adjust and alter life.
King believes that an unjust law “degrades,” while a just law “uplifts”
(LFBJ). To degrade is to treat someone
with contempt and disrespect; the unjust law reduces someone to a lower
rank. In many cases, reducing them to a
sub-human form. This degradation
illustrates the profound nature of an unjust law; King suggests that the law
acts as a vehicle of a traveling fate.
One that can be abysmal, unjust laws that degrades, or on the other hand
“uplift” (LFBJ). This vehicle of law can
also take people to just heights, to uplift means stimulating or elevating
someone’s spirit or morals. A just law, the type of law any man deserves,
eludes King. He searches for answers for
justice and injustice in a time of travel for the law. What does the vehicle of law govern? It governs “human personality,” the quality
of characteristics, which define each individual (LFBJ). “Human personality” echoes redundancy because
we usually associate personality with being human. His rhetoric and diction suggest that “human
personality” is the very distinction that separates us from animals; meaning,
he believes that injustice has reduced blacks to animals, beings that cease to
have personality (LFBJ). The vehicle of
law “distorts the soul and damages the personality,” because it is unjust. The law can help people elevate to new
heights or experience elevation of spirit.
But conversely, it distorts and damages the human fabric. Law is a vehicle of travel because it governs
the human spirit, whether it uplifts you to a beautiful feeling of justice or
if it degrades you with injustice; you journey with its governance.